Educating yourself on the web!
Educating yourself on the web!
There are quite a few online law schools these days offering training as a lawyer. Unfortunately the chances of becoming a lawyer after graduating from one of these schools are pretty slim. In all but a very few cases you will not be able to write the bar exam that is required in order to practice law. Even if you are one of the exceptions it is still a difficult road to becoming a lawyer. That doesn't mean that there is no reason to get an online law degree, there are benefits to having one. It is just important to keep in mind that it is unlikely that you will be able to qualify as a lawyer.
In order to become a lawyer online, at least in the United States, you will need to live in California. Currently California is the only state that allows graduates of online law schools to write the state bar exam. Successfully passing the bar exam is a requirement to become a lawyer in all states. The reason that most states don't allow graduates of online law schools to write the bar exam is that the state bar associations are run by lawyers who have a vested interested in keeping people out of the profession. The fewer lawyers there are the more money they make that gives the lawyers an incentive to restrict access to the profession. This is easy for them to do since the state bar associations decide who will qualify to be a lawyer and the bar associations are controlled by the lawyers.
Are online law degrees useful? If you do live in California and you want to become a lawyer you do have the option of studying online, since they do allow online graduates to take the bar exam. Actually online graduates will have to write two exams to become a lawyer in California, first is a smaller exam called the baby bar exam that has to be passed before you can move on to the main exam. The reason for this is because online law school graduates have a high failure rate on the bar exam and the baby bar weeds out those unlikely to pass before they waste the resources that are involved in administering the bar exam.
Just because you probably won't be able to become a lawyer if you attend an online law school doesn't mean that you shouldn't get an online law degree. There are lots of good reasons to get a law degree besides becoming a lawyer. The law is an excellent training ground for people looking to enter the world of business. Most business people can benefit from having a thorough understanding of the law as legal questions come up all the time. More importantly skills like research, negotiation and arguing a case which are a lawyers bread and butter are also valuable in most business situations.